The Magician from Mars

First appearance: Amazing-Man Comics #07, 1939

Created by: John Giunta and Malcolm Kildale

Predating Miss Fury, Fantomah, Wonder Woman and most better-known superheroines, Jane 6EM35 is a sci-fi hero in the far future. Born to a human mother and a Martian father, she might have been just like any other half-Martian child were it not for an incident that occurred shortly after her birth. A nurse exposed the infant to cathode rays, causing Jane’s genes to mutate and granting her special powers: anything she wishes for appears out of thin air. Excellent!

Exploring the world, Jane helps the less fortunate, catches suicide jumpers in midair, halts air-trains from derailing, stops runaway bulls and gives lectures to unethical criminals everywhere. The Magician from Mars was crudely drawn and scripted, but as a series it holds a great deal of charm and wish fulfilment. This action-packed comic is absolutely ridiculous, and awfully good fun.

Miss Fury

First appearance: Bell syndicate newspaper strip, 1941

Created by: Tarpé Mills

The grand dame of all superheroes, Miss Fury is not only one of the first superheroines to reach print – she predates Wonder Woman by eight months – she’s also the first female superhero created by a woman. But there is more to Miss Fury’s appeal than being first. This character was a combination of strength, chutzpah, and sexiness who set a standard of perfection rarely seen even in later heroines. In her eight-year run she had a career that holds up against any of her male contemporaries, battling assorted robbers, murderers, blackmailers, and mob bosses. Not to mention the evil Baroness Erica von Kampf, a Nazi spy who had a swastika burned into her forehead as punishment for betrayal.

Tomboy

First appearance: Captain Flash #1, 1954

Created by: Mort Meskin

Janie Jackson is a gentle little lady who respects her parents, does her homework, and behaves properly. But at night, she’s the scourge of the underworld known as Tomboy! “Disguised” in a simple domino mask and skirt-suit with boots, Tomboy looks little different from Janie, save that her hair is worn down. She has no special powers but is extraordinarily fearless in the face of danger. Swinging across laundry lines to boot robbers in the face, she follows up with a wisecrack and a sock to the jaw. She always hightails it before the cops arrive – not because she’s a masked vigilante, but because the local police lieutenant is her father!

Janie Jackson’s adventures were brief, appearing as a recurring adventure in the unpopular comic Captain Flash. She lasted only as long as his run: a mere four issues. But a teenage female protagonist who can beat up crooks? She should have been the star.

Barbarella

First appearance: V-Magazine, spring 1962

Created by: Jean-Claude Forest

The sci-fi comic Barbarella was first published as an ongoing strip in the French publication V-Magazine, then collected and translated into English in 1968. In her first appearance, within minutes of landing on the planet Crystallia, Barbarella has her outfit torn to pieces, leaving her naked and vulnerable. The situation quickly escalates to a make-out session with her handsome young rescuer, and that pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the series. Throughout the comic, Barbarella encounters sexy male aliens and robots, and spurred by curiosity, takes them to bed.

Let’s be clear, Barbarella is a sex comic, one that is fully conscious of what it is. But it’s also a comic about sex starring a woman who deeply enjoys it and who is eager to explore, through physical intimacy, the wide array of personalities that exist in the cosmos. The amount of pleasure and enthusiasm that Barbarella brings to her exploits across the universe is refreshing to read. And the art is gorgeous.

Superbitch

First appearance: Superbitch #1, 1977

Created by: Ira Harmon

When a spaceship carrying the first black astronauts malfunctions and gets lost in deep-freaky space, the head of Nasa calls for the help of Freda Foxx, aka Superbitch. Using the power of her radioactive vagina and a form-fitting space suit, Superbitch launches into action. She soon discovers the lost astronauts buried deep within an interstellar body (literally) and follows them inside, where she uses tit-fu (that is, her breasts grow to enormous size and smash all aggressors) to ward off the dangerous aliens that lie in wait.

Freda Foxx isn’t the first comics character to be strongly influenced by blaxploitation cinema, but she is one of the few black female characters created by a black cartoonist. Ira Harmon is a skilled artist, and his work has a better sense of visual style and humour than most underground comics of the period. This is still a sex comic created by a man, however, and it strongly shows that influence.

Fashion in Action

First appearance: Scout #1, 1985

Created by: John K Snyder III

I can’t choose just one character from Fashion in Action — they’re all so wonderful. From characters inspired by pop stars (main character Frances Knight is partly a mix of Annie Lennox and David Bowie) to plots that echoed then-current events – such as Sean Penn and Madonna’s wedding – this series was tippity-topical for the 80s, set in the 2080s.

Each of the characters in Fashion in Action – the name of their security agency – had her own style and specialities. Frances was the tough and capable leader. Head of security Kelly is a tough woman with a practical, militaristic style. Talia is the cool, calm pilot and Sarah is the sarcastic know-it-all who dresses like a modern-day cowboy. And Ursula is the glamorous funder of the agency, as well as a powerful psychic. All the women were unique. They were tall, short, thin, chubby, black, Asian, white, flat, buxom … this was a comic very much ahead of its time.

American Woman

Did you ever feel Wonder Woman wasn’t patriotic enough? Enter American Woman, a mysterious superhero who wears her US citizenship proudly all over her body (including her leggings, arms and chest).

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American Woman falls under the aesthetics of the bad-girl style of 90s comic books, though it is not the worst of the bunch. It is not the best, either. Glassy eyes, a vacuum-packed suit with a thong back, and revealing cut-outs up and down her costume make this a character created for a specific (ie: hetero-male) audience. She can fly through the air, she’s telepathic, has a magical staff and she faces off against an adversary who’s just as powerful (and as sexually provocative) as she is: the demon goddess Maxilla Maw. But with only two issues, it is hard to really know what this comic is about.